“My daddy, he would say, ‘I want you to know who you are and where you come from. That will guide you as you discover who you must be. Now, you listen to this story, you hear me, baby girl? It’s not going to be in a book, your teacher’s not going to tell it, but you need to understand who you are.'”

Awele Makeba is an award winning and internationally known storyteller/teaching artist, literacy specialist, and recording artist recognized as a "truth teller," an artist for social change, and someone who sparks "aha!" moments. She researches, writes and performs hidden African American history, folklore, and personal tales. She provides opportunities for audiences to grapple with the meaning of their own lives as they make meaning of past lives. She has made it her life's work to tell history through the words of its silenced and oft-forgotten witnesses. Awele uses art to catalyze deep conversations about race, our common humanity, and our vision of a just, humane, multiracial society. Awele teaches through performance and she animates democracy through her art.